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Orbit Airlines Flight 852
Orbit Airlines Flight 852 '''was a DC-10, registered N571OR, that crashed on a small hill near Jefforson, Georgia, USA on June 23, 1985 after suffering first a gradual decompression then an explosive decompression. en route from Douglas International Airport in Charlotte to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. Of all the 260 passengers and crew on board 61 survived and 199 died. The cause of the crash was due to the pilots, though both very experienced flying other types of planes, being very inexperienced flying the DC-10, and did not respond to the takeoff configuration alarm, warning them of the low cabin pressure. The explosive decompression was not in any way linked with the gradual decompression, but was caused by an incident while undergoing maintenance the previous winter, which maid a crack on the top of the forward fuselage about 1 mm thick, which had not been seen during maintenance nor undergoing the pre-flight inspection. Aircraft and crew The plane involved, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (registered as N571OR) was built and delivered to Orbit in 1984 and had only completed about 108 cycles (a takeoff and a landing is considered a complete aircraft cycle) before it had to go to maintenance in at Orbit's main maintenance hangar in Miama, Florida. The Airplane was powered by three CF6-6D high-bypass-ratio turbofan engines produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE). Captain Edvin J. Jeffery, 58, was a pilot for Atlantis Airways and flew DC-9 on routes from the bahamas. After Atlantis went bankrupt and it was acquired by Orbit he began flying 727's but soon returned to flying his beloved DC-9's. In 1984 he was transferred to flying Orbit's new DC-10's which he was not suited for. First officer Dominick M. Buckholtz, 47, also worked for Atlantis Airways. He had a lot of experience flying 707's and DC-9's. He too was transferred to Orbit after it went bankrupt where he ended up flying 727's and 737's before being transferred to the new DC-10's in 1985. Third officer Elvis C. A. Read, 61, too also worked for Atlantis Airways and was third officer on their 707's where he had a lot of experience. He continued to fly Orbit's 707's, 747-100's and 747-200's. He was transferred to the DC-10 in 1984 and had flown together with Edvin five times before. Accident '''Maintenance in Miami After a tailstrike landing at San Francisco in February 1985 the aircraft was, when it arrived at Miami International Airport, sent for repairs at Orbit's main maintenance hangar there. The maintenance was supervised by mechanic Harper Adair and carried out by mechanics: Alexander Braddock and Eric Perry. During the maintenance a crack formed on the top of the forward fuselage just above the cabin. What actually caused the crack to form, was never discovered, but it is believed that one of the mechanics dropped a drill from where he was standing and it landed drill-first on the fuselage. Takeoff and subsequent crash Flight 852 took off from Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia at 23:03 (EST), where it would continue with no passengers down to Miami international Airport, Miami, Florida the next day. Just after takeoff, as the plane reached 2,000 feet, the takeoff configuration warning light came on but rather that doing something about it the pilots decided to ignore it for the time being. Only third officer Read was unsure about that and later brang it up again. The pilots then came to a conclusion that there must have been something wrong with the alarm and cancelled it for it to only 5 seconds later, as the plane flew over 10,000 feet, go off again. Third officer Read then pulled the circuit breaker for the alarm and the plane flew on. Just before the plane reached its cruising altitude of 24,000 feet, the crew had already suffered to hypoxia and were dead. About 8 minutes later the crack on the top of the forward fuselage opened up completely and the subsequent explosive decompression ripped open the fuselage around the cockpit making it detach from the rest of the plane and fall down. Two stewardesses by the name of Lavern Smedley and Lois Fulton were sucked out in to the open. The rest of the plane began losing altitude relatively quick rate at a 8° degree angle and began disintegrating slowly as it approached the ground. Just how many passengers were sucked out of the plane as a result of the explosive decompression and the subsequent dive and spiral is not known. About 40 minutes after the departure from Charlotte Douglas International Airport the plane hit a swamp just southwest of Jefferson County High School beside Winder Highway in Jefforson, Georgia. Passengers Injuries All of the passengers sitting in first class in the front of the plane died (along with the pilots) on impact with the ground. All 65 of the survivors were spread out between the middle and the back of the economy class section. 10 crew died in the accident the lone crew survivor was 23 year old flight attendant Patrick Green. Nationalities Of the passengers there were passenger from five countries including England, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Italy and Hungary. One passenger: Edgar Hooper was supposed to catch the flight but fortunately missed the flight. Aftermath Investigation The investigation was carried out by NTSB ('N'ational 'T'ransportation 'S'afety 'B'oard) when examining the FDR (Flight Data Recorder) that the aircraft had leveled off at its cruising altitude of 24,000 feet and soon after had then cut off mid-flight. This then lead to the assumption that a bomb had been the reason of the crash. This was then proved wrong, when 2 days later as the investigators went to look for parts of the cockpit that could indicate that a bomb had been the reason for the accident. The cockpit was not found in the wreckage but was soon discovered about 1½ northwest in a small forest in the backyard of 76-year-old C. Brainhill along with the bodies of the three pilots. The bodies of the stewardesses were not found during the investigation, but only 2 years later, the skeletal remains of Lois Fulton were found on top of a tree and the some of the skeletal remains Lavern Smidley were found in a local reservoir. The parts of the fuselage where the cockpit had detached from the rest of the plane, especially on the top part, showed strong signs of metal fatigue because of the many small cracks. After the bodies of the passengers and crew were examined, a lot of them seemed to have died from hypoxia and all of the survivors and the (recovered) bodies had been sleeping because of hypoxia and those who had died, died on impact. That also meant that the investigaters, though they had survivors, they had no witness statements of what happened. It was found when examining the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) that the crew was aware that there was a problem but chose to ignore it. This is not normal procedure which may have been caused by the pilots being inexperienced with flying the DC-10 and being afraid if doing anything wrong while concentrating about flying the departure. That they chose to pull the circuit breaker may have doomed the crew and passengers but if they had chosen to call the company for answers they would have been told what to do. Category:Orbit Airlines Accidents and Incidents